The connection of the holy city with the earth; the river of
God and the tree of life; the source of blessing in God's constant
presence; His servants reigning for ever and ever

The connection of the holy city with the earth, though not on it,
is everywhere seen. The river of God refreshed the city, and the tree
of life, whose fruits ever ripe were food for the celestial
inhabitants of it, bore in its leaves healing for the nations. Only
the glorified ever ate the fruit of constant growth; but what was
manifested and displayed without, as the leaves of a tree, was
blessing to those on earth. We see grace characterising the assembly
in glory. The nation and kingdom that will not serve the earthly
Jerusalem shall utterly perish -- it preserves its earthly royal
character; the assembly its own: the leaves of the tree it feeds on
are for healing. There is no more curse. The throne of God and the
Lamb is in it. This is the source of blessing, not of curse; and His
servants serve Him; often they cannot as they would here. Note too
again here, how God and the Lamb are spoken of as one, as constantly
in John's writings. His servants shall have the fullest privilege of
His constant presence, shall see His face, and their belonging to Him
as His own be evident to all. There is no night there, nor need of
light, for the Lord God gives it; and, as to their state, they reign,
not for the thousand years, as they do over the earth, but for ever
and ever.

This closes the description of the heavenly city and the whole
prophetic volume. What follows consists of warning, or the final
expression of the thoughts of, and relationship with, Christ of the
assembly.

Those concerned are warned to keep the sayings of the book
because of Christ's near return; John's worship of the angel
refused; when the book closed its testimony men would remain in the
same state for judgment or blessing; Christ would quickly come

The angel declares the truth of these things, and that the Lord
God of the prophets -- not as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ, nor as directly teaching the assembly as dwelling in it by the
Spirit -- the Lord God of the prophets has sent His angel to inform
His servants of these events. "Behold," says Christ, speaking as of
old, in the prophetic spirit, rising up to His now personal testimony,
"Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keepeth the sayings of the
prophecy of this book." The assembly is viewed, not as the subject of
prophecy, but as "the things that are," time not being counted,
specially time to come. Those that keep it are those concerned in the
book, who are warned that Christ will soon be there. No doubt we all
can profit by it, but we are not in the scenes it speaks of. John,
impressed with the dignity of the messenger, fell down and would have
worshipped him. But the saints of the assembly, even if made prophets
of, were not to return into the uncertainty of ancient days. The angel
was a simple angel, John's fellow-servant, and fellow-servant of his
brethren the prophets: he was to worship God. Nor were the sayings to
be sealed, as with Daniel: the time was at hand. When it closed its
testimony, men would remain in the same state for judgment or
blessing. And Christ would quickly come, and every man receive as his
work was. Verse 7 was a warning, in form of blessing, to those in the
circumstances referred to, to keep the sayings of the book, but this
verse 12 is the record of Christ's coming to the general judgment of
the quick.

Christ announced Himself as God before and after all; the
blessing of the redeemed, cleansed ones; the bright and morning
Star

Finally, Christ announces Himself, having taken up the word in
Person in verse 12, as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end
-- God before and after all; and filling duration. I suppose we
are to take as the true reading: "Blessed are they that wash their
robes, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city." The redeemed, cleansed
ones, can enter there and feed on the tree of life; for I suppose
it is the fruit here. Without are the unclean and violent, and
those who love satanic falsehood and idolatry, sin against purity,
against their neighbour, against God, and follow Satan.

This closes the summing up. The Lord Jesus now reveals Himself
in His own Person, speaking to John and the saints, and declares
who He is, in what character He appears to say it to them. "I am
the root and offspring of David" -- the origin and heir of the
temporal promises of Israel; but much more than that -- He is the
bright and morning Star. It is what He is before He appears, in
both respects; only the former regards Israel born of the seed of
David according to the flesh. But the Lord has taken another
character. He has not yet arisen as the Sun of righteousness on
this benighted globe; but, to faith, the dawn is there, and the
assembly sees Him in the now far spent night as the morning Star,
knows Him, while watching according to His own word, in His bright
heavenly character -- a character which does not wake a sleeping
world, but is the delight and joy of those who watch. When the sun
arises, He will not be thus known: the earth will never so know
Him, bright as the day may be. When Christ is in this place, the
Spirit dwells in the assembly below, and the assembly has its own
relationship. It is the bride of Christ, and her desire is toward
Him.

The cry of the Spirit and the bride; our common hope and
desire; the invitation to "whosoever will" to come

Thus "the Spirit and the bride say, Come." It is not a warning
from one coming as a judge and a rewarder, but the revelation of
Himself which awakens the desire of the bride according to the
relationship in which grace has set her. Nor is it a mere sentiment
or wish: the Spirit who dwells in the assembly leads and suggests
her thought. But the Spirit turns also, and the heart of him who
enjoys the relationship, to others. "Let him that heareth" -- let
him who hears the voice of the Spirit in the assembly -- join in
the cry, and say, Come. It is one common hope, it should be our
common desire; and the sense of what is coming on the earth, and
the sense of failure in things that are, ought only, though it be
in truth an inferior motive, to urge the cry in all. But while
still here, the saint has another place also. Not only do his
desires go after God upwards and the heavenly Bridegroom, but he
reflects God's known character, by having His nature and Spirit as
manifested also in Christ's love, and in possession of the living
water, though not of the Bridegroom. He turns round and invites
others, "Let him that is athirst come," and proclaims it forth then
to the world, "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life
freely." Thus the whole place of the heavenly saint, conscious of
the assembly's place, is brought out in this verse, from his desire
of Christ's coming, to his call to whosoever will to come.

Warning to preserve the integrity of the book; Christ's
cheering assurance; the saint's response; the promise and the
desire and the last words of Jesus on the heart

The integrity of the book is preserved by a solemn warning of
the danger of losing a part in the tree of life* and the holy
city. Christ then cheers the saint's heart, by assuring that He
would quickly come; and the heart of the true saint responds with
unfeigned and earnest desire, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." And
then, with the salutation of grace, the book closes, leaving the
promise and the desire as the last words of Jesus on the
heart.

{*The true reading here is "tree," not "book"; but the book
of life is not life, nor is our being written there final, though a
prima facie register, unless indeed written there before the
foundation of the world: but, even so, it is not the same thing as
the possession of life.}

The conscious position of the saints given at the beginning and
end of the book

Let the reader note here that, in the beginning and end of the
book, before and after the prophetic statements, we have in a
beautiful way the conscious position of the saints.

The first, at the opening of the whole book, gives the
individual conscious blessing through what Christ has done; the
latter, the whole position of the assembly, thus distinguishing
clearly the saints under the gospel from those whose circumstances
are prophetically made known to them in this book. "Unto him that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us
kings and priests to God and his Father." As soon as Christ is
named (and it is so in both cases), it awakens in the saints the
consciousness of Christ's love and their own place in relationship
with Him. They are already washed from their sins in His own blood,
and made kings and priests to God and His Father -- have their
place and state fixed, before any of the prophetic part is
developed, and in the coming kingdom will enjoy that place, not of
being blessed under Christ, but of being associated with Him. Here
they have their place simply in the kingdom and priesthood; it is
individual title resulting from His first coming. They are loved,
washed in His own blood, and associated with Him in the kingdom.

Christ as the morning Star; the assembly drawn out in active
love; the desire of the Spirit and the bride for Christ's second
coming; the Spirit's call

At the end of the book, Christ is revealed as the morning Star,
a place forming no part of the prophecy, but that in which the
assembly, who has waited for Him, is associated with Him for
herself, and the kingdom (compare the promise to the overcomers in
Thyatira).* This draws out active love (not as before, simply being
loved and what we are made) -- love first directed towards Christ
in the assembly's known relation to Himself, then to the saints who
hear, then to the thirsty, then to all the world. The desire of the
assembly, as the bride with whom the Spirit is, is directed to
Christ's second coming for herself -- to the possessing the morning
Star; then the Spirit turns to the saints, calling on them to say
to Jesus, Come -- to join in this desire. But we have the Spirit
though not the Bridegroom; hence whoever is athirst is called on to
come and drink, and thus the gospel proclaimed abroad, "Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely." It is love acting in
the saint all round from Christ to sinners in the world.

{*Compare
the place of the bright cloud in Luke 9. There it is the Father's
voice}